Star Trek: The Physics of Throwing a Starship off a Cliff
By: Catherine Medeiros
In the movie Star Trek Beyond there is a famous scene where the main characters find a starship lying on top of a cliff. They want to get the starship flying to eventually leave the planet. One of the engineering guys says, "We have to achieve terminal velocity in order for the stabilizers to provide lift. Are you sure this drop is high enough to do that?"
If one were to drop a crumpled piece of paper, two forces are in action. The first being gravitational pull downwards. The second being air resistance. Air resistance causes the downwards acceleration of the object to slow down. This means that the net force is still down and the paper will still accelerate; however, it will do so slower. Since the paper is still accelerating, at some point the air resistance force is equal to the gravitational pull downwards. This causes the net force to equal zero. This is called the terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is the velocity that an object reaches when it is no longer accelerating. The density and the size of an object factor how long it takes the object to reach terminal velocity. For a rock similarly sized to the paper, it will take much longer to reach terminal velocity.
This means that if the starship reached terminal velocity, the net force would equal zero, the starship would be able to produce lift, and fly away to safety. Trying to find the terminal velocity of the starship is hard to do because, well, it is a movie. The equation to find terminal velocity is:
terminal velocity = square root (2 * mass * gravity / drag coefficient * density * area)
Because we cannot find the mass of the starship or the drag coefficient, we cannot determine the exact terminal velocity of the starship.
In the end, there is enough height for the starship to reach terminal velocity and generate enough lift to fly away safely.
Sources:
Allain, Rhett. “The Physics of Throwing a Starship Off a Cliff to Make It Fly.” Wired, Conde Nast, 22 Nov. 2016, www.wired.com/2016/11/star-trek-beyond/.
“Terminal Velocity.” Fluid Friction, hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/airfri2.html.
In the movie Star Trek Beyond there is a famous scene where the main characters find a starship lying on top of a cliff. They want to get the starship flying to eventually leave the planet. One of the engineering guys says, "We have to achieve terminal velocity in order for the stabilizers to provide lift. Are you sure this drop is high enough to do that?"
If one were to drop a crumpled piece of paper, two forces are in action. The first being gravitational pull downwards. The second being air resistance. Air resistance causes the downwards acceleration of the object to slow down. This means that the net force is still down and the paper will still accelerate; however, it will do so slower. Since the paper is still accelerating, at some point the air resistance force is equal to the gravitational pull downwards. This causes the net force to equal zero. This is called the terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is the velocity that an object reaches when it is no longer accelerating. The density and the size of an object factor how long it takes the object to reach terminal velocity. For a rock similarly sized to the paper, it will take much longer to reach terminal velocity.
This means that if the starship reached terminal velocity, the net force would equal zero, the starship would be able to produce lift, and fly away to safety. Trying to find the terminal velocity of the starship is hard to do because, well, it is a movie. The equation to find terminal velocity is:
terminal velocity = square root (2 * mass * gravity / drag coefficient * density * area)
Because we cannot find the mass of the starship or the drag coefficient, we cannot determine the exact terminal velocity of the starship.
In the end, there is enough height for the starship to reach terminal velocity and generate enough lift to fly away safely.
Sources:
Allain, Rhett. “The Physics of Throwing a Starship Off a Cliff to Make It Fly.” Wired, Conde Nast, 22 Nov. 2016, www.wired.com/2016/11/star-trek-beyond/.
“Terminal Velocity.” Fluid Friction, hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/airfri2.html.
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